The Golden Spikers!!

At the end of June I had the awesome opportunity of participating in the Flaming Gorge Days Volleyball Tournament! It was SO. MUCH. FUN! I haven't competed like that since high school. It was a blast!!

They started us off with 3 "Round Robin" games to determine our bracket. We ended up with 81 out of 90 points. Not too bad! So we were in a pretty good bracket. The teams we played were so much fun. We won a couple games then lost, sadly. It was single elimination.So we were out. But we put up a good fight I think. Playing against girls from a college team who never rotated lol They won one, we won one, and we were point for point all through the third game. Our brave Kara sprained her ankle in that third game. We were all terrified cause we all heard it snap! We thought for sure it was broken. I ran as fast as I could to get the medic just to come back to her walking off the field ha ha I felt so dumb. After trying unsuccessfully to convince her to stay put and ice it, she shook her head, put her shoes on, and said she was good to go. What a fighter! We finished out or last game strong! Poor Kara could hardly walk on her poor purple swollen foot for a week!

We finished out in 6 place. Not too bad considering the 20+ teams that were there. I actually don't even know what the prize for first place was. lol I should have found that out. We did come home with some killer tank tops that I will probably never in my life wear. I was pretty upset about them actually. We were promised t-shirts, but were given XL tank tops. The kind you would see on a 50 year old, leather skinned man, with a picture of a mug of beer on the back. Chalk it up to WYOMING baby :)

Thanks to my Golden Spikers for the awesome day! And thanks to all our little fans for cheering us on!!

The Golden Spikers :)

Oh ya! Slam that!

Sarah flies through the air to deliver a devastating blow!

Britt attacks the ball! What a hit!

Kara dominates with amazing skill and grace! :)

Here it comes!

My boys there supporting!

Thanks soooo much babe! It meant the world to me!

Can't take his eyes off Mama's mad skills!

This poor little fan, covered in sun screen and shade almost the entire time still came home with a sun burn :( What a trooper!

Sadly I didn't even get a pic of my brother Quin who was playing camera man. He was a huge support as well, cheering us on to get our butts in gear when we needed it most. Thanks bud!

Rollin' Rolls!

He's got it!

My babies are kind of slow rollers, but it finally clicked in Ryler's head the other night. He's all over the place now. I love when babies learn something new! We are all so excited for him :)

Make It Stop!

Ryler is 6 MONTHS old!! Where has time gone?? My first year with him is half over?? Make it stop! It's going by WAY.TOO.FAST!!

Our little chunk is growing and changing constantly. It always amazes me to watch babies learn. To watch them watching the world around them trying to figure it all out. That's our Ryler right now. He is so interested in everything. He is an avid people watcher. He watches everything going on around him with such wonder and interest. His favorite person to watch is Tray. He wiggles and squirms always trying to get closer to Tray and get in the action. This is such a fun stage, I am LOVING it! He is such a riot :)

Some new things this last month...

Ryler loves blowing Raspberries... all the time... till his shirt is soaked and then some. He and Tray get in Raspberry wars till Darren or I stop one of them. That's a lot of little boy spit flying about. lol

Ryler is sitting up a lot more. He still topples over here and there, but he's really getting the hang of it.

He loves standing up.

He loves standing, then sitting, then standing, then sitting lol giving whom ever is holding him quite the work out.

He keeps trying to flip out of his Bumbo to reach anything and everything around him.

He is interested in EVERYTHING and will flip out trying to reach what ever has caught his interest. He is so curious all the time. I love it!

He has started solids and loves them. He eats twice as much as I was planning to start him off with, and takes giant spoonfuls at a time. And will get unhappy if there is not another spoonful waiting for him after he has swallowed lol He is such an Oinker!

As a result of him starting solids he has gone from a once-a-week pooper (seriously..once a week. Tray was that way too) to a 3 times a day pooper. We go through so many diapers!! lol

His favorite toy in the whole world is a water bottle. Any water bottle really. He's nuts about them.

He has started whining just for show and will laugh when he gets the attention he wants.

He rolls from his stomach to his back, and from his back to his side ALMOST to his stomach, but always chickens out at the last minute. He has successfully made it from stomach to back about 5 times that I've seen.

He scooches. lol while on his tummy he scooches and squirms to reach whatever I've put out of his reach. He actually moves too. Slowly. But surley he inches toward his destination.

He pretends to talk.. moving his mouth open and closed over and over, it looks like he's saying 'mamamamama'

I can't think of anything else at the moment. We just love him soo much! Looking over his crib each day and seeing his face light up when he sees me absolutely makes my day :)

Ryler-Smiler!

This pictures depicts Ryler perfectly! HAPPY!

Me and my little man :) I just love him so much!

My big 6 month old!

The Water bottle.. His favorite.

Practicing Standing.

Blowin' some Raspberries! :)

Live-in Hero!

My little brother Quin, has come to live with us for the summer and we are LOVING it! He is so much fun to have around. Tray is especially thrilled about it and wakes up each morning excited and begging to go play with his Boo again. (Boo is the nick-name Tray gave Quin when he started talking) So every day Tray gets to play with his Uncle Boo and he truly loves it. Ryler also loves Uncle Boo, who is always willing and ready to play, tickle, snuggle, and make faces at him. Anything to make the little Chubs laugh :) Quin is a huge help to me and such a delight to have with us. We are so happy for the chance to spend time with him before he's off to SUU in the fall, then on a mission next year. I don't know what we will do without him for TWO years!

I love these boys!

First Bite!

Our little man experience his first round of solids last week. I typically like to wait till 6 months to start my babies on solids, but during our vacation in Utah last week he was acting like he might need a little something extra :) Here is his first bite...

He did great, didn't try to spit it out or anything. He is loving the solid foods now and anxiously awaits each spoonful with a wide open mouth. :) lol Love that chunky man!

Once a Month

So apparently I have become a once a month blogger. Usually when Ryler turns a month older, just so I can document where he and Tray are at. And really I have no idea how you other Moms do it so often. I'm amazed and jealous. Someone will have to teach me some time-managing tips or somethings cause really I just don't find the time to do it as often as I should. Kudos to all those out there who are obviously much better at this than I lol So! On with my monthly update...

Ryler is 5 months old today! He is just getting so big I can hardly believe it. One the one hand it really feels like we have had him all along, it's hard to imagine that it has only been 5 months. But on the other hand he is getting so big it hurts just a little bit. I am really good at tripping myself out about it too. I am always thinking things like 'only one more months and he'll be half a year old! Another 6 months and he'll be a year! It's going by way too quick!' Ha ha at times I have to remind myself to calm down and take ONE day at a time and not get caught up in silly thoughts like that or I will lose out on all these first precious moments.

Our little man is soooo cute and so much fun! Every day I swear he changes and learns something new. The boys and I had the opportunity to spend a week down in Payson with my cousin and her kids last week while Darren came back to WY to work. It about broke Darren's heart to see how much the boys can change in just one week and that he missed it all :( It makes me really never want to leave him for any amount of time at all lol

Some updates on Ryler..

Ryler is starting to sit up. He still has some practicing to do for sure. But he's starting to get it. Which is always a fun milestone. :)

He sleeps from 9-8ish with a feeding around 6.

Ryler is starting to realize when I pass him off to someone else, and will look around for me and smile when he finds me. Though he never really cares who is holding him. He loves everyone :)

He especially loves the ladies lol There are a few friends he just loves and smiles at constantly.

He really loves his Daddy. He gets really excited when Daddy comes home and starts waving his arms around excitedly begging to be picked up and loved on.

He is very intrigued with his cute little toes. Though he can not get them into his mouth which frustrates him to no end since EVERYTHING has to go in his mouth. lol Maybe its a boy thing?? Neither of my boys were able to get their feet in their mouths.. They just aren't flexible enough I guess.

Everything has to go in his mouth, as mentioned above. lol I get people mentioning sweetly to me all the time that they think he is hungry.. but he really just wants to munch on everything. The one indicator I have for his hunger (chewing wise) is my face. He only tries to chew on my face when he is hungry. lol Kinda weird.

He has a major toy addiction. He seriously loves toys! Especially his little giraffe off the jungle gym his aunt Janeen gave him.

He grabs our faces in his hands which I think is just adorable. I have got to get some pictures of it. I want to melt when Darren leans down to say hi to him and Ryler reaches up and rests his chubby little hands on either side of Darren's face. **Melting**

He loves taking baths with his brother now and goes nuts when he sees the toys floating by. He is not quite quick enough to catch them yet so Tray is usually kind enough to help him out.

He loves taking his binky out of his mouth AND can now put it back IN! Ha ha thank goodness. He would get so frustrated before. And he still does at time if its upside down or something, he does not know how to flip it around yet.

We have now mastered the laying down nursing. AWESOME I must say. lol Why didn't anyone tell me you have to put your arm under their heads?? Or maybe thats just me cause I am slightly bust-challenged lol But this whole time I would just lay him flat on the bed and could not for the life of me understand how he was supposed to reach! ha ha I struggle I know.

He can roll from his back to his side and back and does it frequently, but has not been able to get all the way over on to his cute fat belly.

He gets startled very easy but giggle ferociously afterwards lol

Um.. I can't think of any other changes at the moment, I will come back and add any if I do.

Tray has been very sweet to Ryler lately. He went through a faze for a few weeks where he really didn't want anything to do with Ryler. He was never mean to him, but just ignored him for the most part. I am happy to say he has come around again and wants to hold and play with Ryler again which I just love. Tray has a new found obsession with toast?? I think I have Aunt Heather to blame for that one? lol But every morning he eats 3-4 pieces which is fine by me. As long as he is eating SOMETHING. He is still not the biggest fan of food. But I can usually get him on board with pancakes, ramen, man n cheese, or grilled cheese. Pathetic I know but he will seriously opt to go without food. What can ya do. He is an Anderson.. and they have bigger appetites than anyone else I know, so eventually his eating skill will kick in. (That is the hope anyways) He is talking ALL. THE. TIME. Ha ha we can't figure out how to get him to stop?? Just kidding, we love it. He comes up with the weirdest things to say too. Some of his recent statements: When I was pretending to nibble his ear. He giggled and said "Mommy don't eat me! I'm not the lunch!" Or when I ask him to do something his response is "Ok, Ok. Fine Fine." Yesterday he was having a hard time keeping his pants to stay up thanks to his lack of bum, but through the day he had done a pretty good job or pulling them up when they started to slip. Last night we hear him whining in the other room and ask him what's wrong and he yells back "My pants! Mommy, Daddy! My pants are gone!" We didn't think too much of it till he came waddling in the room with his pants around his ankles looking pretty upset about it. Ha ha I about fell of my off my chair, Darren spit out his water, we were laughing so hard. The poor thing got all pouty lipped and about started crying. We quickly ended our laughter and helped him with his pants. I just love my boys!! Well this is all for now, sorry for the novel.. I guess that is what I get for only posting once a month! I am determined to post again very soon :)

Now for an overload of pictures? Yes please!

Ryler's FLUFFY hair ha ha (This is one of my FAVORITE pics!)

He is just so handsome!

This is Tray playing in a box. lol It was our way of celebrating me finally unpacking the last box! Don't judge me... it had been stashed in Darren's closet :)

Tray, like every other little boy, is obsessed with cars. He basically has the whole cast thanks to his Aunt Janeen and cousin James. So he likes to act out the movie as he is watching. I love when I hear him quoting the movie "No tires! Just gas!" as he makes Guido change Lightnings tires :)

Cute brothers :)

Ryler wins!!

Starting to get the hang of sitting up... Kinda. lol :)

My cute binky boy!

What a chub!

And for your viewing pleasure...

Oohh! Ahhh!

Lovin' that Blue Steel :)

Another Month!

This last month has been an interesting one. It has been a tough one. There have been a lot of emotions flying about. The worst part of this last month I think was Steve. Tray was doing so awesome at potty training that Darren surprised Tray with a puppy. A very very cute puppy that Tray named "Steve". (Too much blue's clues) After a few days with our new little friend we realized that Ryler was not doing so well. His eyes were red and puffy, he was very congested and very onery. Sneezing and yelling all the time. Ryler is a very happy baby so we knew something was wrong. Ryler was allergic to Steve. So sadly we had to say goodbye to the little fur ball. Tray was beyond upset. He cried for days and refused to go anywhere near that potty, insisting on "baby diapers". We scrubbed the house down and finally got Ryler back to normal after a week or so. It took a few weeks but we're finally getting Tray back on the potty. He still asks for Steve sometimes but hes over it for the most part.

Tray and his little buddy.

Tray is also FINALLY getting in the last of his molars (for now anyways) and they have had a very hard time cutting through. He has been extra sad and emotional and only wanting to eat one thing..

About 20 times a day I hear "Please yellow Popsicle?

Miraculously I found a brand that sells bags of all yellows. Epic, right?

Now for Ryler. I swear I just barely posted about Ryler turning 3 months and now its time to update again! Ryler is 4 months old and so much fun. I am loving all the new stages! He is such a joy in our home and we just love him to pieces. Tray is starting to realize he can plan with Ryler and likes me to make Ryler tackle him. Its really cute.

A little bit about the Roo....

Ryler is now 15 lbs. 25 inches. About 40 and 40 for percentiles.

Ryler loves to smile and will crack it at just about anything.

He loves chewing on his hands!

He loves chewing on everything... lol Everything goes straight to the mouth.

He likes to pull out his binky... then tries to get it back in his mouth but isn't too successful yet.

He is still eating and sleeping awesome. He is such a chunk! We can't even believe it.

He now likes taking baths.

He loves standing up and sitting up. He doesn't like leaning back.

He has a suuper cute giggle!

He likes rubbing his hands together.. it looks like he's scheming. It always reminds me of that part on Dr Doolittle 2 "This is good news. The Beaver likes good news" :)

His hair is staying a light brown.

His eyes are still a really dark blue, we're not quite sure what color they'll end up.

He loves being in his jumperoo and is getting the hang of the jumping part.

He really likes sitting in his bumbo.

He likes holding toys and sticking them in his mouth, sometimes resulting in a punch in the face lol Then he looks at us like "what did you hit me for??"

He is really good at tummy time.

He loves looking in the mirror.

He is VERY ticklish :)

He is the perfect addition to our little family. I can't imagine life with out that chubby grin :)

We love our boys sooo much!

Tray is yelling "Don't get me, Ryler baby"!

They are so cute!!

Roo in his Jumperoo

I loove this age! He is figuring everything out.

Tummy time!

My cute 4 moth old!

Check out those rolls! I can't get enough :)